Dan's Clam Chowder

This Recipe is a combination and simplification of several recipes…
I printed out about 6 different ones, read them several times,
looked at comments (on the internet) about several of them
(for what people thought improved them)… and made my own version
based on the flavors I liked, and the kinds of things that seemed
to make up the chowders that I like. (I love a good clam chowder)
I also tried to make the quantities “even” (who wants a 1/3 of a
left over cup of cream in their fridge until it goes bad) so I
consider this an “easy” recipe.

This is a nice thick, creamy clam chowder (if your on a diet, go eat a carrot)… enjoy
Ingredients and directions… [feeds about 6]

Start with a nice roux
(Thanks to Connie Kuber for teaching me how to make a roux, as she
made “gallons” of soup for the Church Lenten dinners)

In your favorite cooking pot [I like a 2 quart
one], melt the butter, toss in the bacon, some diced up union… and
cook 10 min or so until the union is clear. Stir in the ½ cup
of flour for a nice roux.

Keep it stirring… and cook for another few
minutes. Some people like to have some chopped celery in their
chowder… if you whish, with the unions is a good time to add that as
well.

Add the liquid, potatoes, and
boil - pour in a cup or so of water, the bottle of clam juice,
the juice from the 3 cans of chopped clams, and the potatoes and
bring it all to a boil. Two fair sized potatoes should do…
about 2 cups worth. I like to dice mine up into small pieces
about ¼ of an inch… this keeps the potatoes from overpowering the
chowder. If you like potato soup more than you like chowder,
make the pieces bigger [or find a good potato soup recipe… which I
also have… again thanks to Connie]. Some folks like Carrots in
their chowder… this sounded silly to me, so I opted for all
potatoes.

Lower the Heat to a simmer –
Now add the cream and the clams (you can add them later if you like…
several recipes I saw added them in just before eating… something
about them getting rubbery. I don’t know if this applies to
fresh clams only, but I didn’t find the Snows canned clams to get
tough).

Season, stir, cover and simmer
– This part can be kind of fun… I just opened my seasoning cupboard
and started shaking in ingredients that I recognized from the
recipes. In my last batch, I put in a good sprinkling of salt, some
white pepper, sage, dried parsley, oregano, and dill. I don’t
know how to tell you how much… you might have to experiment. I
went a little stronger on the oregano and parsley pretty good on the
garlic, then a little lighter on the sage and dill.

Simmer with an occasional stir (try
not to boil). Mine was pretty thick at this time already, but
it did thicken a bit, and the potatoes softened up nicely in about
30 or 40 minutes.

I like mine with some nice
sourdough bread… hollowed out “bread bowls” can be a nice way to
serve your chowder, with some of the removed bread toasted with
butter under a broiler (I like to broil the bread bowl a bit too…
warms it up, and gives it a nice crust).